Hello MoCo! It's been a minute. My last post was a la PC, Pre-Covid. Here we are, 9 months later, quarantining in place, protected by masks, working from home, zoom schooling. The new normal is tough to swallow. I've been one of the lucky ones where I can work from home and actually got headhunted to a competitor. Being in real estate default and risk management, my career thrives in a defaulted environment so I'm busier than ever. But again, I've seen both sides of the coin in this pandemic, and I'm curious to see what happens next.

In the multifamily world, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provided payment relief to apartment owners by giving 3 and 6 month forbearances, which allowed their borrowers to defer mortgage payments and allowing them to repay in 1 or 2 year periods. In exchange, owners are not allowed to evict Covid affected renters and reach individual forbearance or payment plans. So what happens after the forbearance periods run out, will these institutions give additional relief, that's ongoing and TBD.

Here in MoCo and Washington Counties, my (single family/condo) rental property demand has been better than ever as well. I've turned 4 separate rental properties in less than a month's marketing time, sometimes sight unseen in less than a day! Although I didn't flip my Hagerstown house, I did secure a long term lease with a non-profit organization that provides safe housing for disabled individuals.

I also actively manage airBnB homes both locally and in upstate New York. AirBnB took an early hit with various state by state travel and quarantine moritoriums. Early on in the year, all of my upstate New York bookings were cancelled due to Covid when traveling was banned. As a result however, there was a significant demand from Manhattan-ites exiting the city to find temporary housing upstate with an abundance of outdoor space and activities. So I secured a summer sublet to a Brooklyn-based couple for 2 months for one of my homes. The upstate New York market was actually so frothy that I purchased another single family home rental and secured a year long lease about 30 days after closing! Locally, I had a home in the Brookmont neighborhood that was temporarily rented to a State Department family for a couple of months. 

As you can see, rental demand is there, supply is limited, values are still high and a lot of deals to be made. Interested in an investment property? Need help with a rental or AirBnb? Let me know, I'd love to discuss.

Uh...it's been awhile.

Man, this blog has been seriously neglected. Do people still read blogs? Should I forward to an Instagram or Tik Tok profile? (truth is, I don't understand Tik Tok) But where have I been? Doing deals, buying and selling, now is the time!! There's plenty of great housing supply, low interest rates, and employer job demands...MoCo is ripe for some home transactions.

I'm currently working on a Hagerstown, MD flip...80% there! Hopefully I will have better updates soon.

Bubble Tea is EVERYWHERE!

Not sure if anyone noticed...but there is a TON of bubble tea shops popping up around Rockville/Gaithersburg.  I like to think I was ahead of my time since I opened my own bubble tea shop back in 2002 in Travilah Square (Green Tea Cafe for life!), and then ultimately sold the business since it wasn't doing too well (boo to seasonality).

Let's take inventory (not even including all the restaurants that sell bbt as well!):

Kung Fu Tea - 275 N Washington St D, Rockville, MD 20850

Kung Fu Tea - 11802 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

Bubbles&Tea - 1319 Rockville Pike B, Rockville, MD 20852

Jumbo Jumbo Cafe Asia Taste - 15192 Frederick Road, Rockville, MD 20850

Bubble Tea Cafe - 130 Rollins Avenue #F1, Rockville, MD 20852

Gong Cha - 1800 Rockville Pike C, Rockville, MD 20852

Tea-Do - 838 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

Ten Ren Tea - 825 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

Bubble Express - 765 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

Pearl Lady - 201 E Middle Lane, Rockville, MD 20850

Lab Cafe - 101 Gibbs Street, Rockville, MD 20850

Jumbo Jumbo Cafe - 765 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852

BoBaPop Tea Bar - 312 Main Street #100, Gaithersburg, MD 20878

Bubble n Berry - 7234 Muncaster Mill Road, Derwood, MD 20855

SnowBots - 1701 Rockville Pike Suite B-9, Rockville, MD 20852

Did I miss any?

The Spot Rockville...Cafe Rio Travilah...Trader Joe's...Which are you most excited about?

There's a lot of new openings around Rockville/Gaithersburg...which are you most excited about?

The Spot Rockville - Asian Food Hall next to Rockville Town Square

Cafe Rio - New store officially opened in Travilah Square

iFly Sky Diving - Indoor sky diving in Gaithersburg

Carvana - Car vending machine in Gaithersburg

The Beach - Pike & Rose (fake) beach aka sand.

Wegmans is coming to Twinbrook - Rockville

Looks like it's official! Wegmans is slated to come to Rockville.

Travilah Quarry - Earth Day Open House 2018

Not a lot of advertising but definitely not to be missed! Aggregate Industries is hosting their annual Quarry Earth Day on Saturday, May 5, 2018 from 10am-3pm. This is a great opportunity for area residents to tour inside the quarry and see firsthand what goes on inside. There's a great shuttle bus that drives you down inside. There's also a lot of area businesses that give away treats and other souvenirs. Great for adults, great for kids. Here's a link for more information.

Here's also a previous post I wrote back in 2014 about the Quarry Earth Day!

Goodbye Hyatt House Gaithersburg

It looks like the Hyatt House Gaithersburg has gone bye bye. They had started to liquidate all the furnishings and housewares.

Sounds like there's still a lot of inventory. According to the liquidator, tomorrow Saturday 3/10, they will be opening up another 2-3 buildings filled with furniture.

And lastly, what will the building be converted to? Senior housing!